Friday, January 31, 2014

Creating

Over the past few years I've seen a year long course offered online at Willowing.org called Lifebook. Although I had wanted to, I hadn't signed up because of time constraints. However, this year, even though there won't be more time in my life, I'm determined to make time for creativity.

One of our first lessons was to take our word for the year and create a Guardian Angel to guide us through the year. My word this year is "Move" and I'm pretty happy with how my angel turned out.

Before Christmas, I had taken Christy Tomlinson's Artsy Ornaments class. Tam Laporte, the founder of Willowing.org taught a class on making a paper clay doll using a jar as the base. A few months prior to the class, I had a few flood lights that had burned out but I thought that I could use as a base for a doll. I had already covered the bulbs with masking tape paperclay, then I set them aside in my craft room for months! In December, after watching Tam's tutorial, I finally took the time to collage and paint this little doll and I think she came out pretty good.

As January was in full swing, I was feeling kind of sad that I wasn't participating in any Valentine swaps this year. Shortly after that, Jennifer Babcock announced that she was hosting a Valentine heart swap and I think I was one of the first to sign up. :) For the swap, we were to make 10 hearts the size of our hand made from any medium we chose. I made mine from fabric, lace, organza, and embellishments, and my hearts are pictured below. Jennifer is mailing our swapped hearts back to us this week - it will be fun to see all the creativity!

Then, to my surprise, shortly after Jennifer's swap, my friend Laurie Jackson announced that she was hosting a 3 inchey swap. Mine are almost complete to send off but I won't post pictures until the 3 inchies are actually returned. (Some of the swap participants read my blog).

Lastly, Danita was offering an online class called "A Doll Story". I believe I've mentioned it on my blog just a few posts back, plus I have a button on my side bar. I'm a tad behind, but here is my doll so far:

I'm hoping to catch up on Sunday while Doug is busy watching the Superbowl. Tomorrow, I'm going over to the Paper Crown to attend Bobbie's Valentine Soiree which I know will be fabulous, as always!

I can't believe that today is the last day of January. It's been quite a month. We're looking forward to moving into February.

A Wicked Tea!

Crochet School

Handmade U

Karla's Birdsong Tag Swap

Sandy's Easter Tag Swap

Birdsong Event

Jemellia's Monthly Bag Challenge 2011

Homegrown Hospitality

Valentine Tag Swap

Cup Of Christmas Joy Swap

2010 White Christmas Tag Swap

Dorothy Tag Swap

You are The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.